Fermenting-roomin distilleries



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FERMENTl-NG-ROOM'EN DlSTiLLERI ES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent-No. 293,294, dated February 12, 1884.

' Application filed July 12, 1883. (No model.)

.To @ZZ w'lwnt it muy concern:

clear, and exact description of the saine.

411161 SGZISOD.

`It is customary with distillers to look for trouble in the manufacture of their product with the commencement of warm weather, since the heated atmosphere has the effect of souring the contents of the fermenting-vats, known to distillers under the name of beer,77 thus producing, in proportion to the amount of heat in the atmosphere, a quantity of acid, and depriving him of so much alcohol. The loss is so great and the poor result demands such careful attention for its production that distillers generally abandon altogether the manufacture of theirproduct duringthe sum- On the other hand, since it is necessary to keep the contents of the fermenting-vats at a uniform temperature of about 7 0 Fahrenheit, when the state of the atmosphere is at the opposite extreme difficulties also arise in winter, and even the mean temperature between the two sometimes renders it difficult to control the fermentation in a manner that will retain the beer at the requisite temperature for proper fermentation. By my improvement it is intended to relieve the distiller of many of the difficulties attendant upon producing alcohol, to permit the assurance onhis part of its superior quality and increased quantity, and to enable him to run his distillery and produce these results all the year round and in any climate.

To this end 4my invention consists inconstructing a fermenting-room of which the ceiling and walls shall be composed of non-conducting materials, and which shall have a double iioor, the lower of which shall merely perform the office of supporting the vats, while the upper, composed like the walls and ceiling, of non conducting materials, is built around the fermenting-vats and occupies a position about three feet below the top of the said vats, where, in addition to the functions hereinafter named,'it constitutes a platform or working-Hoor.

It also consists in providing pipes to lie along the ceiling, and also,when desired,along the said fioor and walls, through which cold water from a refrigerating apparatus is made to circulate when the temperature of the room "requires reduction, and steam or heated water, supplied by well-known means, when the said temperature requires increasing,thereby regulating the .temperature as the particular circumstances shall require.

The drawing represents a cross-section of a fermenting-room,showing two of the compartments, and showing the vats in elevation.

A A are fermenting-vats, over the tops of which a trough7 e, runs, having controllable openings t and t, to discharge the contents of the mash-tub, which flows into the said trough through the spout s into the fermenting-vats.

,B B are the walls, formed wholly or in part of non conducting materials; G, the ceiling, formed directly below the ordinary weatherroof, and also composed of non-conducting material;I and D, the floor, whichsupports the fermenting-vats. The non-conducting working-floor E, as before stated,'lies about three feet below the tops of the fermenting-vats,and where it surrounds them it is carefully sealed, to prevent the passage of air from one chamber to the other.`

F F are pipes lying across the ceiling and along the walls, through which the cold or heated water or steam, as the case may be, is caused to cool or heat the atmosphere of the room as it comes into contact with the said pipes F. By means of my improvement, as

will be readily seen, it is possible to keep the atmosphere of the room at the requisite temperature. Neither the supporting-floor D nor the walls below the working-1ioor are necessarily composed of non-conducting materials, since the air in the lower chamber cannot 1nfluence the liquidin the vats through rthe 'wooden staves of which they are constructed.

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natural gravity to the floor E. These outlets may be formed in any desired number at oonvenient places in the floor.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure bylietters Patent, is

1.-In a distillery, a fermenting-room provided with a non-conducting iioor built to surround the fermenting-vats over the supporting-Hoor, in combination with means for regulating the temperature of the upper chamber as circumstances shall require, substantially as described.

2. In a distillery, afermenting-room having its ceiling and Walls constructed Wholly or in part of non-conducting materials, and provided with a non-conducting iioor built to surround the fermenting-vats over the supportas described.

- FRED. XV. VOLF.

In presence of- DOUGLAS DYRENFORTH, EDWARD MCGAFFREY. 

